Ans. Giftxoxo.com is an India’s leading Rewards Solution Provider. We are an ISO Certified company having a huge clientele of 700+ corporate names like HDFC, Cognizant, L&T Infotech, First American, Snapdeal and more. And aim to create a Culture of Appreciation and Happy Workplaces through innovative solutions. The brand today has a collection of 5000+ extraordinary experiences across 6 categories – Adventure, Fine Dining, Wellness, Getaways, Hobbies and Philanthropy and we assure that each service offered to you brings hand-picked experience, from best and most trusted brands.

Q2. Unusual concept! Our readers would like to know a little more about other founders?

Ans. We are here 4 people: Sumit Khandelwal, Kushal Agarwal, Abhishek Kumar and me, trying to resolve your gift-related problems with a little twist. Here’s a brief introduction of ours: Sumit Khandelwal is a TAPMI, Manipal Alumnus with 7+ years of experience in sales and marketing. Abhishek pursued his studies at IIT-Bombay and has a background of providing technology solutions to clients. Kushal holds experience in Sales distribution and Marketing and is handling marketing and vendor relationship tasks at Giftxoxo. And, talking about myself, I am an ex-student of IIM-Kozikhode with 10+ years of experience in technology, product, marketing and business excellence.

Q3. Tell us our readers, what inspired you to make out the decision and start Giftxoxo?

Ans. Sumit was really inspired by companies like Wrap and Giftiki, seeing those making huge inroads within the e-commerce move in the US. Even, I found some good ideas working well in gifting internationally. We did a lot of brainstorming to know how to begin with and found gifting space as our closing choice. Thus, Giftxoxo got started. Abhishek and Kushal joined us too within the month. Giftxoxo came in early 2012 and we presented our next project, a B2C portal ‘Frogo’ in 2016. It is a geo-based mobile app that helps a consumer to discover and book amazing experiences, activities and things-to-do around them. Giftxoxo & Frogo are into a unique position where customers can opt for experiential gifting.

Q4. Great Manoj! What are your views for Digital Marketing; do you find it rewarding?

Ans. Digital Marketing is a sphere that lets you enjoy your work and is growing speedily replacing the traditional forms of marketing. While older generations are lamenting the demise of traditional forms (newspapers, books, TV and radio broadcasts) those who are growing up with the internet and mobile phones are enjoying the digital intake. The facts say that digital means of communication are faster, more versatile, practical and streamlined, and the advancement led us adapt the present shifting into the digital age. And, the best thing is that digital offers just as much potential to marketers as to consumers.

Q5. The decision to join digital marketing in business; it must have brought benefits. What are they?

Ans.1. We have an e-commerce platform and our digital footprint has increased significantly as we’ve started using digital forums SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC etc. 2. The ranking of our website rose by the third page to first age in Google SERP. 3. From 2015-16, after changing the page layout, we were able to increase the website traffic by 100%.

Q6. Manoj, what makes you different amongst others presenting same sort of services? In simpler words, we want to know your USP.

Ans. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know. Product gifting has been all around; however, we are in a unique position of offering experiential gifting services. We are experts in what we do and everything we offer is hand-picked, personalized and curated to cater to customers’ specific taste and choices. We make your special occasions like Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings and retirements, unforgettable. ‘Giftxoxo’ is a company that believes in creating memories that you can cherish for a lifetime. We believe in creating exclusive, WOW experiences for individuals. It’s a simple platform and standardized pricing & high-quality offering ensure that customers feel delighted each and every time.

Q7. Tell our readers, what were your priorities for 1st year and how you preceded building the team and managing the funds?

Ans. Getting our product validated, making changes as per the industry needs, building our first set of customers, keeping up the work on feedback received from the market, hiring the right talent etc. were our priorities during the first year and still are. We received our first round of funding around a year after being into the business, once prospective investors noticed that the concept has started and we became able to prove our worth, they started investing.

Q8. What is your business model, do let us know your plans to reach to more customers in the coming future?

Ans. Giftxoxo is working towards becoming one of the largest gifting service providers globally. We have really earned a huge number of clients in India and their feedbacks say that we are on the right path. We are planning to expand to other countries as well within the years to come and keep on adding exclusive experiences & newer spurs and wish to become a one-stop destination for services offered. With ‘Giftxoxo’, we are planning to become largest Engagement Solution provider and with ‘Frogo’ we are working towards becoming one of the largest curated experiences and activities providers globally.

Q9. Manoj, Few short questions to be answered in less than 50 words.

One tip to success: Perseverance and Agility

One mistake you believe every individual must avoid: Not learning from others’ mistakes

One most important lesson that you have learned till now: Make calculated decisions

Share a quote that inspires you the most:“You never fail until you stop trying”.